What's the best option?

Hello everyone. I've been looking at this site for the last year or so, but this is my first post. I'm going to repaint my decoys again this year and wanted so input on the mallard heads. I used green Home Depot paint last year with some black detailing and it looked good, but I was thinking of doing something different this year. I've read all the post on here about flocking ( which looks awesome) and uv paint (bird vision uv, maybe good maybe bad) I'm leaning toward the flocking from aero outdoors with hunter green rustoleum as " glue ". Does anyone have any last thoughts or suggestions before I pull the trigger. Ideas in flocking type/brand, best place to buy, arguments for or agains UV paint or flocking. I WANT ALL YOUR KNOWLEDGE and PAST EXPERIENCE!!!! Tell me everything

Whether you flock or paint, first get ALL of that flaking paint off or you're just spinning your wheels. I flock everything. Others hate it. If you start flocking you're going to also have to learn how to airbrush. Just keep that in mind.

Thanks for the info. I checked out the web site but might still be leaning toward the aero outdoors stuff. Ive seen pictures of decoys done with that flocking and they look really good. Do you have any pictures of yours with the flocking from the website you mentioned? I do have an air brush so thats not a big deal. And I understand on the prep work. i messed up last time i painted by not sanding enough paint off and thats why Im painting them all again so soon. Also, did you see any difference in how the ducks decoyed with flocked decoys? Again, thanks for the info.

I personally use the flocking from Donjer with no problems. Just make sure you keep your paint wet and thick ( just before running) when you are flocking. If it starts to dry the flocking wont adhere nearly as good if at all. Pm if you have anymore questions.

Give me a couple weeks and I will. Used up all my stuff from Aero and then ordered from Flockit. MUCH cheaper than Aero when ordered in 5lb quantities. As far as material comparison, it looks identical to me.

Mean gene, A couple pictures comparing the aero outdoors and the flockit material would be great. I know that aero has two colors of green (emerald 305 & custom emerald mix with long shinny fibers 306). What did you use? Also, how many decoys can you do with 1lb of flocking? 5lbs sounds like a lot! I'm planning on doing around 40-45 green heads.

I didn't get any of the green this time. I got goose gray and feather brown. If you're just doing the heads, then a pound of green will be more than enough. I thought the green from Aero was an excellent color. I've done about 50 decoys with the green and still quite a bit left...bought a pound the first time. I got the stuff with the long fibers. If you're just going to do the heads, then get the green from Aero in a 1 lb quantity.

A pound of flocking will go a long way if you make a way to recover the flocking you don't get on your decoy. Doing the flocking over a large plastic tub will help. I use 4 colors, black, feather brown, goose grey, and white. I've done just about every species on every brand of decoy with those four colors. You do need to be able to use an airbrush. I get all my flocking from Flockit so I can get the bulk discount. Use a respirator when applying flocking, a simple dust mask is not sufficient, do not flock in the house regardless of the type of glue you are using. You need to be in a dead calm area to flock or you will lose a lot of your material. These were all flocked with the four basic colors of flocking I mentioned, then airbrushed.

Woodduck,Those look amazing! Am not sure however i want to take on the task of doing full body with flocking. I have about 130 decoys to paint and a boat blind to build so that should be enough to keep me busy. On the scaup did you shade the whole head to get it that dark, or just mix the flocking colors. Also, what glue do you use. I was planing on just using paint. Is that a bad idea?

Are you kidding me?Woodduck isn't a duck hunter first, he's an artist that hunts ducks.When I see those images he's posted, I'm thinking the guy has the same genes in his make-up that produced the old master decoy builders from a hundred and fifty years ago. At least he puts the same care into detail as far as he wishes to take it.

That's how you "feed the passion" thru the whole year. Glad to see the heritage still continues.Good job woodduck!

So the words Fall and Autumn are not to be capitalized?They are in my world.

there is a lot of value in just having a decoy spread that looks different than the last 30 decoy spreads a duck has survived flying through. Having decoys that are flocked or partially flocked gives them a different look and has been very effective for us. Having decoys that have a variety of poses can help by showing activities that ducks expect to see in certain areas. Feeding poses, resting poses and other activities can give the illusion of movement just as silhouettes can as apposed to the standard poses we get in plastics. When I first started making my own decoys 10 years ago my objective wasn't to increase the number of decoys I was using, but to put poses in my spread that weren't available by the regular decoy companies.

I am an artist first, but tend to do a lot of duck decoys since it pays most of my bills. I am primarily a wood carver and used to do a lot of competitions 20 years ago. Bear hunting is what consumes most of my days in the field, quite frankly I am too busy to do much duck hunting anymore.

most of my carving career has been in fish and animal carving, I have a passion for a wide range of wildlife art.

If it's made out of wood around the house, I'm going to carve and paint something on it. My wife still seems to enjoy this kind of stuff since our decor is very cabinish.

about the only waterfowl stuff I did prior to 10 years ago were decorative flyers like these.

Elvis Kiwi, do you happen to get NZ Hunter magazine? There is an article in the february/march 2013 issue that features several decoys that my son has flocked and painted. He has flocked and painted hundreds of decoys for people in New Zealand this year.

Hey everyone, just an update. I did end up going with the green from aero and some black. I've been busy turning a bunch of old mallards into blue bills with the black flocking and it's going we'll. I will post some pictures of my decoys soon. A few more questions though. Mean green, you said you used the green from aero in the past, what did I you use as glue? I've been using flat black rustoleum for the scaup and that's great, but not sure if I should use satin hunter green or flat black as the glue. Not sure how much color will show through and what will look best. Any suggestions.???